San Luis Obispo County Obituary
JAMES VAN NESS
Submitted by Kathy Sedler, Sept. 2004
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Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, Oakland, Calif.,
Thompson & West, 1883, pp 381-385; Pioneer Obituary
JAMES VAN NESS -- Life is indeed an impenetrable secret. We see it in all its
outward phases, with its hum and noise and unrest, and even in its contemplative
mood, ever wandering on the extreme and slippery edge of a precipice, beetling
over the dark, unfathomable gulf of death. It pursues its course utterly
heedless of the manifold dangers with which it is momentarily environed, until
it hears the splash and death wail, which seems for an instant only to attest
its attention, and to cause it to reflect upon the slight and gossamer-like
tenure of its existence.
The subject of the present article, who but a few days ago walked
among us in the full enjoyment of all his faculties, is now no more. He died in
San Luis Obispo on the 28th day of December, 1872, in the sixty-fifth year of
his age. He was born in Vermont, of which State his father was Governor, and
afterwards, under the administrations of Madison and Monroe, United States
Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain.
James Van Ness entered Yale at an early age, and graduated when he
was only nineteen. After leaving college, he emigrated South, and attended,
during two sessions, the law school of the celebrated Judge Tucker, at
Winchester, Virginia. Among his fellow-students were J. M. Mason, Henry A.
Wise, Chas. J. Falkner, and Uriah Wright. He was admitted to the Bar of
Virginia in 1828, and during the same year went to Georgia, and engaged in the
practice of law. He subsequently practiced at Montgomery, Alabama, whence he
removed to New Orleans, where he was engaged in editing the Picayune.
In 1849 he came to California, and settled in San Francisco. In
1854 he was elected Supervisor from the Eighth Ward, when he introduced the
celebrated Ordinance which bears his name. And in 1856, his friends,
recognizing his eminent administrative capacity, gave him the nomination for
Mayor of San Francisco, to which office he was elected. In 1861 he came to this
county, to pass, as he observed to his friends, the remainder of his days in the
quiet, unostentatious retirement of a country life, but at their earnest
solicitation, in 1871, he consented to enter the canvass for the unexpired
Senatorial term of Lieutenant-Governor Pacheco, and was elected State Senator
from this district by an unprecedented majority.
There is an awful sublimity about death which almost hallows it in
the eyes of mankind. It commands the respect and awe of the entire world. Let
its victim be of high or low degree, we can never feel indifferent, never
wholly withdraw our attention from the most noticeable, if not the most
momentous, epoch in the life of man. It is the scene in the drama of life which
we contemplate with greatest interest, as being the point reached whence to
mortal eyes there is no beyond. Hence it is that during the life of an
individual we bestow, generally, only passing glances at his career, but when he
disappears forever we then revert back, and are apt to review his past life
through all the changeful periods of his existence with a more critical eye, and
to consider it as a whole, in short, as a completed work, with its acts and
scenes systematically arranged.
James Van Ness had almost reached man�s allotted time. He died, we
may say full of years, honored by his friends and respected by his foes.
He performed well his part in life, and has left the impress of his
genius in his writings, and in the legislation which he accomplished, whether
for San Francisco, this county, or the State at large.
Previous to the passing of the Van Ness Ordinance, the question in
regard to the proper disposition, by the city of San Francisco, of its pueblo,
or outside lands, gave rise to much debate and great acrimony of feeling. Some
of the settlers upon these lands claimed pre-emption rights; others again
contested the validity of such claims, so that these disputes often led to acts
of violence and bloodshed amongst themselves, and at times they were even
arrayed in hostile attitude against the authorities. At his juncture the Van
Ness Ordinance was introduced, which regulated the disposition, by the city, of
the pueblo lands, and also recognized the equitable rights of the actual
settlers then upon them.
The principles laid down in the Ordinance by its author were
subsequently admitted to be correct by the action of the Legislature of the
State, and also received the approval of the Congress of the United States.
He possessed an original but eminently practical mind, and the
perspicuity of his reasoning upon difficult questions was remarkable.
Unhappily, his views of human nature were too often directed to its dark side,
which frequently led him into serious errors of judgment, in spite of his fine
discriminative qualities, which he so clearly exhibited in his delineations of
character when he gave his mind its full scope. He had strong prejudices, but
was a man of high and generous spirit. And admitting, as we must do, that his
attachments were few, they were remarkably lasting. Nay, even to his declared
enemies, he was not vindictive. And if we cannot concede to him in its full
measure the virtue to forgive, nevertheless he frequently treated his bitterest
opponents with great magnanimity. Doubtless the clearest view of his character
was obtained by observing the natural play of his mind in the ordinary walks of
life. Possessing unaffected felicity of expression, his brilliant description
of men and things of his time, his clear comprehension of universal truths, the
acuteness and refinement of his reasoning, the keen shafts he would playfully
throw out at intervals, gave to his conversation a peculiar charm. He was
without vanity, and the principles of charity and kindness were deeply imbedded
in his nature, and were frequently manifested in his general intercourse with
society, and more particularly with his inferiors. To the assemblage of so many
natural gifts in one mind, it might have been reasonable expected that ambition
would have entered. But such was not the case. He seemed to have been entirely
devoid of the desire for distinction, as the public offices which he filled with
so much credit were thrust upon him by the persistive importunity of his
friends. He rejoiced when their terms expired, and returned to the shades of
private life, which he loved so well.
The evening of his life was reached in the place of his own selection, and
he passed away from earth quietly and apparently without the sensation of pain.